«I did the Kilimanjaro route but I stayed at 5,200 meters from the 5,900 meters of the summit. I had to stop because the guide insisted that I go down because he was going very slowly. I’ve always been slow even when I was young. He believed he couldn’t finish it and forced me to come down for safety. All the memories I have of the group are very good. This is confirmed by Hortensia Ramos, the oldest woman (83 years) of the Mountain Group of Tenerife and a true pioneer of this activity in the Islands. He says it the same week that this group turns 60 years old. On October 4, 1963, a group of friends sat on the terrace of the weyler square from Santa Cruz to create this group of mountain lovers. Today there are 325 components.
There were 14 founders. Among them was the first president in the history of the association, Cesáreo Tejedor, who died in 1968 after suffering an accident in the mountains. Luis Villegas, a member of the group for 56 years, agreed with Tejedor. He confesses that “since his death, there has been a decline in climbing and hiking.” «A mountain accident at that time caused many young people who were starting out to not go for fear that something similar would happen to them. Fortunately, within a few years he recovered and the group became pioneers of climbing in Tenerife. Villegas remembers a phrase from one of the founders, Edmundo Herrero: “We will always have the honor of having been the first in this sport in the province.”
Hortensia Ramos also remembered Tejedor with great affection. “When we reached a summit, hot from the climb, and took the bag to sleep, he always said that you should dress warmly when you can keep the heat, because when you cover up you only keep the cold”, he assures, adding: “He was a great person and the excursions I took with him were very good.” The oldest woman in the Tenerife Mountain Group joined in 1967, just four years after its founding. Hortensia remembers that her first excursions were to La Gomera and La Palma. “At that time Tejedor was the president and I got along very well with him and the rest of the group.”
The Tenerife Mountain Group was born before the federation itself in Canary Islands. There was only one delegation from the Spanish Federation in the Archipelago. Francisco Mora, vice president and member of the group for 50 years, explains that “they contacted us to propose that two provincial federations be created and that is how the one of Tenerife and Gran Canaria was born.”
In the first years of existence, the efforts of the Governing Board of the Canarian Mountaineering Federation focused on giving shape and content to the entity. Thus, they began to work on the statutes and gave them legal form before the different administrations. The Federation, of which Cesáreo Tejedor was also president at the time, works to achieve recognition and support from all organizations linked to the sport. In addition, the current federative structure was configured with regard to the composition of the islands and the respective assemblies, as well as the structure of the Canary Federation itself. «We are currently celebrating 55 years of that moment. It was a very great advance and a process in which, once again, the Tenerife Mountain Group was a pioneer and helped its development,” explains Luis Villegas.
At the end of the 70s, the Tenerife Mountain Group began to make large summits in Europe. Mont Blanc (between France and Italy) or Mount Matterhorn (between Italy and Switzerland) were the first expeditions they carried out with Antonio Ramos Villar at the helm. Luis Villegas points out that “starting in 1980, the association demanded more and more” and began to prepare expeditions outside of Europe. In that same year, the group traveled to the Atlas Mountains, located in northwest Africa (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia). Two years later, in ’82, they visited the Andes and managed to reach summits of up to 6,700 meters. In 1986 they built Illimani, located in Bolivia, which at 6,460 meters above sea level is the highest in the Cordillera Real and the second in Bolivia, behind the snow-capped Sajama.
The following year, several members were lucky enough to make an expedition to Mount Kenya (the highest mountain in Kenya and the second highest in Africa after Kilimanjaro) but without a doubt, Luis Villegas and Hortensia Ramos detail that in 1987 it left a “very important” expedition at the national level led by Antonio Ramos that stayed 150 meters from the summit of Everest, the top of the world (8,849 meters). Until that moment, Antonio was the Canarian mountaineer who had achieved the most achievements, with a history of more than 150 summits around the world.
The Montañero Group has a gigantic responsibility with the environment. The current president, Josefina Suárez, states that “in collaboration with the Cabildo we guard an area of the Mesa Mota forest and work on the recovery and care of the space.” «The main thing we do there is the replacement of small trees, activities with children and institutions that ask for help or even mental health associations, but above all we focus on learning and collecting trash. It is very important that young people learn to take care of the environment because nature is our home,” she details.
In addition, another agreement that they have with the Corporation is the management of a refuge on the Las Cañadas highway, in the National Park of Teide, which is on cession of use so that any mountaineering group or any duly accredited institution can request it. In addition, with each visit, small fees are generated that are used for the conservation of the refuge itself.
The Tenerife fire greatly affected this group due to all its involvement with the area and the journeys it has made through the largest protected area in the Canary Islands. Francisco Mora, the vice president, affirms that “seeing our Island burn like this was horrible.” “For a mountaineer it is a very sad feeling,” he explains. Likewise, he criticized the lack of security and surveillance that the Teide National Park has. «It’s something we’ve been working on for a while. I think it is the only national park that does not have extreme security and that harms us all,” Mora emphasizes.
Regarding the routes in the Canary Islands, the members of the group assure that the trails are in a “correct” situation, with “easy access for use.” Luis Villegas points out that in his experience, “the international camp in La Palma, in 1967, was incredible2. “More than 500 registered people attended and with the structure of those years on the island, in which there were almost no resources, everything worked perfectly and set a style.”
The most important journey in the Canary Islands is the one known as Cesáreo Tejedor, in honor of the great mountaineer who founded the group. It is a route that leaves from the Anaga lighthouse and arrives at the Teno lighthouse, with a climb to Teide. It takes place over 6 days and has an extension of 254 kilometers. The first time it was held was in 1969 and the last time was in 2019, so it has been held for 50 editions. The expedition has a capacity for 35 people and in recent calls they have always sold out within 24 hours. “It is the most significant in the Canary Islands,” said Villegas.
The board has held a series of activities this year for the 60th anniversary. Francisco Mora, also director of the club, highlights that there are several notable ones: “We have made trips to almost all the Islands, a twinning with the Italian Alpine Club of Pisa in which they came to Tenerife and we went to Italy, and a few days ago “The group went on a route through the mountains of Bilbao.” There are some left to celebrate, such as an expedition to Kilimanjaro to which 18 members will go or a visit to La Palma during the December long weekend. To all of those mentioned, the culmination of the anniversary and the main event are added. “We are organizing at the national level, commissioned by the Spanish Federation and the Higher Sports Council, a veterans’ march to bring together all the members of the group and enjoy a pleasant walk,” concludes Francisco.
